Scorpius (Farscape)/Synopsis
The story of Scorpius from the tv series Farscape Biography Pre-Show Scorpius was conceived as the result of a war rape: his mother, Rylani Jeema Dellos, was a Sebacean woman captured by the Scarrans following an attack on a civilian convoy. While in captivity, she was inducted into an experimental program intended to test whether Sebaceans could be of any use for the Scarran Imperium - including breeding stock: to that end, she was raped by one of their soldiers. Over the course of the next few months, Rylani was driven to insanity by the brutal conditions and torturous gestation process, and frequently begged for death. In the end, she died giving birth to Scorpius; out of 91 children born during this experiment, he was the only one who survived past birth - all other infants dying with their mothers. Despite his survival, Scorpius was born sickly and weak: as a hybrid, he possessed an extremely high body temperature (a typical Scarran trait) and a severe weakness to heat (a typical Sebacean weakness), leaving him in constant pain. Raised in a prison cell aboard a Scarran dreadnought, Scorpius spent most of his childhood being tortured in an attempt to "teach" him to overcome his vulnerability to heat: his matron, Tauza, frequently deprived him of water and blasted him with heat lamps in order to cleanse him of Sebacean weaknesses, beating him viciously if Scorpius made the mistake of saying "please." During his education, Scorpius was told that his mother was Scarran and had been raped by a Sebacean, and he was being raised as an act of benevolence by the Scarran Imperium; unknown to Tauza, the young hybrid also possessed the ability to see energy signatures in living beings - signatures that changed when the subject was lying, allowing him to recognize Tauza's dishonesty. After 12 cycles (years) of abuse and torture, Scorpius was able to break out of his cell and escape the Dreadnought. He spent many years travelling the Uncharted Territories, gaining familiarity with a wide variety of alien cultures, even acquiring mentors and parental substitutes: one was a martial artist by the name of Katoya, who taught Scorpius to resist pain and strengthen his willpower; another was a Saltici banker named Natira, who gradually molded Scorpius from a "angry, hot-headed young creature" into a restrained, calculating adult. Scorpius eventually began an on-again-off-again sexual relationship with Natira that continued for many years despite the growing lack of trust between the two. During this period of travel, Scorpius also developed a special suit that allowed him to lower his body temperature and withstand the onset of heat delirium - though it required him to carry around backpack-sized coolant unit. Eventually, Scorpius surrendered to the Peacekeepers, offering them information on the Scarran Imperium in return for protection and answers about his birth. Despite the Peacekeepers' well-known distrust of hybrids, his request was honored: along with documents that confirmed his parentage, he was even given the location of his mother's escape pod (where she was captured). Unfortunately, the Scarrans had gotten there first. When Scorpius arrived to investigate the scene, he was promptly captured by Tauza and taken back to the Dreadnaught he was raised in. Enraged at Scorpius's escape and the "weakness" he'd displayed by using a coolant suit, Tauza once again tortured him with the heat lamps, even forcing him to watch a recording of Rylani's rape; she also gloated that the failure of Scorpius ultimately proved that Sebaceans were of no value to the Scarran Imperium - not even as breeding stock - condemning the Sebacean race to genocide along with all other "weak species." Unfortunately, the Scarran matron once again underestimated her ward's strength: tearing the coolant rod out of his backpack and snapping it in half, Scorpius proceeded to gouge out Tauza's eyes with the sharpened ends of the rod, before lowering the cell temperature until she succumbed to hypothermia. After helping the Peacekeepers to locate and destroy the Dreadnaught, Scorpius requested to join his rescuers: High Command, recognizing the hybrid's value, declared Scorpius exempt from all the normal purity regulations and allowed him to join the Peacekeepers. Rising quickly through the ranks, Scorpius eventually created a special task force intended to study and develop wormhole technology, and acquired a maximum security Gammak research base on an isolated moon to conduct his studies in total secrecy. Now determined to get revenge on his illegitimate father's race, Scorpius believed wormholes were the key to ending the Scarran Imperium's genocidal plans - and the entire Scarran race, if possible. During this time, Scorpius upgraded his suit into a more streamlined model; with the help of Diagnosan Tocot, he also augmented his body with a mechanism designed to insert coolant rods directly into his brain. More importantly, he also invented and constructed the Aurora Chair, a powerful interrogation tool allowing him to examine a prisoner's memories directly. He took to using it on Stark, a Banik Stykera who'd worked for the Scarran nobility in his boyhood. Scorpius was hoping to learn Scarran military secrets from him, but even after a hundred grueling sessions in the chair, Stark's mental powers allowed him to keep the true prize out of his torturer's hands - namely the location of Katratzi, the hidden seat of Scarran power and one of the few sources of rare Crystherium Utilia to the ruling order. Season 1 Scorpius's first appearance in the show is the nineteenth episode of the first season, "Nerve", in which series protagonist John Crichton and his fellow shipmate Chiana infiltrate Scorpius's secret Gammak Base to steal medical supplies for Aeryn, who'd been mortally wounded in the previous episode. Crichton is initially able to disguise himself as a Peacekeeper Officer thanks to an Ident chip stolen from Captain Larraq, along with a little help from Gilina Renaez, a technician that Crichton had befriended earlier in the season. However, Scorpius's energy-vision allows him to see that Crichton is not Sebacean, and orders him arrested, believing him to be a spy. Putting Crichton in the Aurora Chair, he interrogates him at length, dissecting his memories bit by bit: though he eventually learns that Crichton is not a spy, he learns of the intruder's knowledge of wormholes. Unknown to Crichton, during the episode "A Human Reaction", the Ancients had implanted him with the subconscious knowledge of how to create and control a wormhole; though they sympathized with his desire to get home to Earth, they refused to simply give him the technology, reasoning "if you're not smart enough to develop it on you're own, you're not smart enough to use it wisely." They even erased the memory of this conversation - only for Scorpius to uncover it with the Aurora Chair. Anxious to get at the hidden information, Scorpius pushes deeper into Crichton's mind but despite his best efforts, the Aurora Chair cannot not open the area that the Ancients have locked. So, he implants Crichton with a highly sophisticated neurochip: programmed with an A.I. copy of Scorpius's personality, this device is designed to completely infiltrate and merge with Crichton's brain, then seek out the wormhole knowledge and record it - all while keeping Crichton safe until it can be safely extracted. To ensure that the chip remains secret, he also uses the chair to destroy the memory of implantation. As such, this information doesn't come to light until the second season. Scorpius also finds himself in conflict with Captain Crais around this time: Crais had been pursuing Crichton for most of the season, believing him to be responsible for his brother's death, and upon seeing him in Crichton's memories, Scorpius invites Crais to the Gammak Base in an attempt at intimidating his newest prisoner into cooperating with him. However, Gilina sabotages the chair with false memories indicating that Crais had been given wormhole knowledge in exchange for Crichton's life. Unable to pass up a possible lead, Scorpius puts Crais in the chair for a while, and though he ultimately discovers that the memories have been fake, he clearly enjoys watching the arrogant captain suffer. Soon after, both Crichton and Stark are rescued by Aeryn and the rest of Moya's crew, though Scorpius manages to shoot Gilina dead in the escape. In the following episode, "Bone To Be Wild", the tension with Crais worsens when Scorpius invites himself to the Captain's command carrier while they attempt to track down Crichton: to Crais' growing frustration, Scorpius provides tactical advice that would allow them to uncover Moya's location by aiming panic-inducing signal at her newborn son, Talyn - advice that Crais ignores out of sheer spite. Scorpius also begins whittling away at his already-decayed authority by gaining the support of the carrier's increasingly dissatisfied crew, starting with Lieutenant Braca. The feud between the two commanders reaches its apex when Scorpius finally issues a damning report on Crais' activities throughout the season to High Command, guaranteeing a court-martial for the renegade captain; enraged, Crais attempts to kill his accuser - only to be swiftly overpowered. By the end of the episode, Scorpius has usurped all power aboard the command carrier. In the season finale, Rygel surrenders to Scorpius in an attempt to sell out the rest of the crew. However, Crais is able to convince him that Scorpius will just have him executed for his previous crimes, and makes a deal with Rygel to escape the carrier together and rejoin Moya. Despite the tension between Crichton and Crais, the disgraced crew of Moya are able to come up with a plan to escape Scorpius once and for all: while Moya and Talyn leave with Scorpius in pursuit, D'Argo and Crichton pilot a transport pod loaded with explosives on a collision course with the Gammak Base. Normally, the scientist would gladly have the pod shot down in order to save his base and its precious data, but the contents of the pod are easily recognized by the command carrier's instruments, Scorpius is forced to break off pursuit in order to save Crichton and deal with the pod non-lethally - unaware that D'Argo and Crichton have already bailed out and are now waiting for pickup from Aeryn's prowler. In the end, this results in the Gammak Base being destroyed in an explosion visible from space. However, Crais has double-crossed the crew and stolen Talyn; Aeryn is delayed from the pickup by prowlers from the command carrier; and Crichton and D'Argo are left floating in space, left to either die of asphyxiation or be recaptured by Scorpius. Season 2 At the beginning of this season, Crichton and D'Argo have been rescued thanks to a temporary alliance between Aeryn and Crais; in turn, Crais is cutting deals with Scorpius in order to secure his freedom - either by selling out Crichton and Aeryn or simply by delaying Scorpius from finding them himself. However, after a prolonged conflict with Moya's crew, Crais is biomechanically bonded with Talyn, foiling any further attempts by the crew at dislodging him from command over the gunship: as the two Leviathans reluctantly part ways, he delivers his final report to Scorpius, claiming to have killed Crichton and avenged his brother. Not believing the disgraced captain for a second, Scorpius vows to find and recapture Crichton. After this, Scorpius makes only a few appearances in this season, though the threat he poses is felt by the crew of Moya throughout in the form of wanted posters and bounties placed on Crichton's head. The menace is also maintained by the first appearances of the Scorpius neural clone, a manifestation of the neurochip in Crichton's head, visible only to him. Called "Harvey" (after the imaginary rabbit in the Jimmy Stewart film of the same name), the clone generally only makes its presence known when Crichton is in great danger and in need of help. In episodes such as "Crackers Don't Matter", "Beware Of Dog", and "A Clockwork Nebari", Crichton is able to dismiss the clone as a hallucination; however, when he learns the truth in "Won't Get Fooled Again", Harvey is able to erase Crichton's memories of the event. The next appearance by the real Scorpius is during the "Look at the Princess" trilogy. Here, Crichton unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a succession crisis on a breakaway Sebacean colony, and a number of parties seek to capture, kill or manipulate Crichton to their own ends: unsurprisingly, one of them is Scorpius. Having tracked Moya to the colony, he is initially used by the current Empress as a means of persuading Crichton, threatening to hand him over to "that abomination" should the human refuse to marry her daughter. However, Scorpius naturally plays his own angle throughout the three-parter. First, when assassination attempts by Prince Clavor and Sastaretski Cargn force the Empress to have Crichton conveyed off the colony, Scorpius orders Lieutenant Braca and a traitor planted among the royal guard to stage an ambush; though the two are successful in capturing Crichton, the human quickly realizes that his astronomical value makes him impossible to wound or even threaten, allowing him to turn the tables on Braca and force him into an embarrasing retreat. Then, shortly Crichton is converted into a statue at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, Clavor attempts to kill Crichton by slicing off his petrified head and dumping it in foundry acid, but Scorpius is able to track down the foundry and retrieve the head before the acid can do permanent damage; however, the hybrid is unexpectedly ambushed by Jenavian Chato, who steals the head and restores it to Crichton's body. Finally, when Cargn loses patience and begins torturing other members of Moya's crew in an attempt to hunt the missing human down, Scorpius resorts to an alliance with D'Argo in order to rescue Chiana from the Scarran ambassador, intending to pressure the Luxan into giving up Crichton when he finally reappears. The arc finally conclues with a standoff between Cargon, Crichton and Scorpius back at the foundry: when Scorpius is overwhelmed by the heat, Crichton has the opportunity to kill him, but the neurochip won't allow this, forcing Crichton to flee the scene before Scorpius recovers. His next appearance was in another three-part episode, the Liars Guns And Money trilogy: with D'Argo's son Jothee being sold into slavery, the crew of Moya need funds to buy him, and so Stark leads them on a heist of one of the fabled Shadow Depositories. Unfortunately, this criminal bank is owned by Natira, and Scorpius has a fortune in property stored in one of the containers - Stark intending the robbery as revenge against his old torturer. Doubly unfortunately, Scorpius himself decides to pay a visit right in the middle of the heist. Though the robbery goes more or less to plan and Crichton becomes irrevocably aware of the neurochip along the way, Scorpius learns of their intentions and buys Jothee from the slavers, threatening to kill him unless Crichton surrenders. Worse still, it's also discovered that the "money" stolen from the Depository was actually a booby trap composed of metal-eating parasites: with mutual trust at an all-time low between the two lovers, Natira had set the trap as part of assassination attempt on Scorpius. In their efforts to remove the parasites from Moya before they can kill her, the crew are forced to burn a quarter of her decks, leaving the Leviathan gravely wounded. With no workable plans to recover from this setback, Crichton surrenders himself to Scorpius. Fortunately, the crew are able to mount a rescue attempt with the help of Talyn, managing to escape with a good of money from the Depository's vault in the process: in the ensuing bombardment, Scorpius is presumed dead - incorrectly. In the season finale, Moya seeks refuge and medical attention from Diagosan Tocot on a frozen world far away from the Shadow Depository. Unfortunately, Crichton, already grappling with the constant whisperings of Harvey, finds himself abruptly taken over by the neurochip: having recorded all wormhole knowledge in Crichton's brain, Harvey now wants immediate extraction. To that end, he manages to alert Scorpius to their location via Crichton's module, and when Aeryn attempts to capture him in the dogfight that follows, Harvey is able to send her prowler crashing into a frozen lake, where she drowns. Crichton regains control in time to hear Aeryn's final words, but not in time to save her. Overwhelmed by remorse, John requests that the chip be removed from his brain, despite warnings from Tocot that the procedure will leave him incapable of movement or coherent speech until suitable tissue donors can be located. In the end, the procedure is successful. However, before the Diagnosan can begin grafting new tissue, a squad of Peacekeeper commandos invade the medical facility with Scorpius in the lead: entering the operating theater, Scorpius proceeds to incapacitate Tocot and retrieve the extracted neurochip. In a final insult, he condemns the paralyzed and aphasic Crichton to live on so that his longing for unfulfilled revenge will consume him, before promptly departing - leaving Crichton trapped, screaming in impotent rage. Season 3 At the beginning of the next season, despite the interference of Moya's crew, the treachery of Tocot's assistant Grunchlk, and the unexpected appearance of a Scarran operative on the premises, Scorpius is able to leave the ice world with the neurochip in tow. He is even able to fake his own death by allowing Crais and Talyn to gun down a decoy ship; now free to leave unmolested, he returns to his command carrier and begins his experiments anew. Meanwhile, Crichton is eventually restored to normal, though neural bleedback has left Harvey unexpectedly lodged in his mind, while Aeryn is resurrected (at the cost of Zhaan's life). By his next episode, Scorpius has arranged a massive experiment project to control wormholes using the newfound information: having already successfully created a wormhole, he is using his carrier to stabilize it while prowlers are sent through on experiemental flights. Unfortunately, despite the initial successes, Scorpius discovers too late that some of the wormhole knowledge on the neurochip is too heavily encrypted to be deciphered - namely the information that would allow for safe traversal of the wormhole: all of the test pilots sent into the wormhole return liquefied inside their prowlers. Scorpius makes several attempts to solve the encrypted data - even going so far as to plead with the remnant of Crichton's personality embedded on the neurochip: though the Crichton clone seems affected by the details of Scorpius' past, he ultimately refuses to cooperate, repeating the Ancient's advice of "If you're not smart enough to figure it out for yourself, you're not smart enough to use it wisely." Eventually, the real Crichton offers to help Scorpius finish his research in exchange for a number of concessions, protections and pardons for himself, the rest of Moya's crew and Captain Crais; of course, Crichton is really intending to shut down the research project by any means necessary. Following a tense negotiation session with Rygel and D'Argo on neutral ground - interrupted by a hold-up in which the two negotiators are forced to band together in order to survive - Scorpius eventually agrees to Crichton's terms, being anxious to prepare for the incoming war with the Scarrans. However, as a precaution against treachery from either party, he connects the two of them via an I-Yensch bracelet that interlinks their nervous systems: should Scorpius die, so will Crichton - and vice-versa, theoretically ensuring mutual safety. While Moya's crew (and Crais) are allowed aboard the command carrier and granted full diplomatic rights and courtesies, tensions between the guests and the Peacekepers quickly rise to unbearable levels: two assassination attempts are made on the lives of Crichton and his fellow shipmates by rogue members of Scorpius's crew, and Crichton's continued stalling rapidly depletes Scorpius's already limited trust. In fact, the only reason why he doesn't suspect Crichton of actively planning sabotage is because Harvey - now on Crichton's side - is masking his energy signature, foiling any attempts at sniffing out lies. In an attempt to sweeten the deal, Scorpius allows the rest of the crew to leave for the safety of Moya, and once again resorts to providing Crichton with his personal biography: though Crichton finds the information compelling and Harvey is able to confirm that the threat the Scarrans pose is as real as Scorpius believes, they decide to press on with the sabotage. The situation worsens when Commandant Grayza arrives on the command carrier to inform Scorpius that the Peacekeepers are shutting down his wormhole research project in an attempt to make peace with the Scarrans. Though he manages to buy some time, Scorpius finally loses what remains of his patience: having pinpointed Earth's location via the memories he extracted with the Aurora Chair, he warns Crichton that if he does not produce results, he will ensure that Crichton will remain alive throughout the 60-year journey to Earth - just so he can witness the destruction of the planet and the extinction of the entire human race. Undeterred despite the beating he's just earned from Scorpius, Crichton continues his plan - this time escalating to destroying the entire command carrier. However, knowing that Crichton has no workable means of doing so, Crais springs a plan of his own: pretending to betray him, he earns enough trust from the Peacekeepers to sneak aboard Talyn, now kept incapacitated within the carrier's hangar. Reactivating the ship, the two of them make one final bid to stop the wormhole project, save Moya from slavery, and make up for their past transgressions: after delivering one last contemptuous speech to Scorpius, Crais allows Talyn to starburst within the hangar, killing both of them and kicking off a chain reaction that eventually destroys the carrier In the chaos that follows, Crichton and Scorpius share one "final" meeting, where Scorpius briefly lambastes Crichton for allowing the Scarrans the chance to invade; eventually, he admits that he will not be going after Earth as "the only vengance I cared about is no longer within my grasp." Finally, he gives Crichton the access code to the I-Yensch bracelets, allowing him to go free. He is last seen striding off into the growing fires, admitting he might not be leaving the ship. Season 4 Several months after the destruction of the Wormhole Project, Scorpius is encountered as a prisoner of Commandant Grayza: having become a dangerous liability to High Command, he has been stripped of his authority and reduced to Grayza's plaything. For a time, he is regularly humiliated at his jailer's behest, before being unceremoniously shot in the back and dumped in a shallow grave while Crichton and other members of Moya's crew look on. Somehow, he survives - enough to save new crewmember Sikozu from being executed as well via a secret passowrd; unable to move, however, he is buried alive soon afterwards. However, Scorpius turns up alive and unharmed soon after, with no explanation as to how he survived except for "foresight and preparation." For good measures, it's eventually revealed that the newly-promoted Captain Braca, who'd supposedly turned on Scorpius during his fall from grace, is now serving as his mole aboard Grayza's ship. In the episode, "Promises", Crichton returns to Moya to find that Scorpius is now a fellow passenger and under Aeryn's protection: having found her prowler drifting in space, Scorpius discovered that Aeryn was suffering from a viral attack of heat delirum and brought her back to Moya for medical attention, even giving her a coolant suit like his to stabilize her. Though Aeryn is eventually cured, Scorpius remains an understandably difficult prospect for the crew: while none of them trust him or expect him to have reformed in any way, they allow him to stay aboard Moya, albeit under guard and close scrutiny. However, Scorpius is able to make a good start on his new relationship with the crew by removing Harvey from Crichton's brain - or so it appears: in reality, Harvey has simply been reprogrammed to be completely loyal to Scorpius and remain hidden until necessary. During the following episodes, however, Scorpius becomes instrumental in saving the lives of the crew many times, allowing an uneasy trust to develop between them - particularly once Crichton discovers that Scorpius is able to simply force his cell door open with his bare hands. In the case Sikozu, this trust gradually develops into an open sexual relationship. Over half a cycle after his initial arrival on Moya, Aeryn is kidnapped by Scarrans and put on a freighter en route to the hidden Scarran capital of Katratzi for interrogation. Crichton, though suspecting that Scorpius played a part in the abduction, offers to give him all the wormhole knowledge he has if he'll help him rescue Aeryn. Scorpius agrees. In the following episode, the two of them explore the Unrealized Realities in search of information on Katratzi; here, Scorpius proves more than willing to murder the alternative versions of Moya's crew if it means uncovering the truth, even snatching a gun out of Crichton's hand and shooting alternate Chiana dead in order to learn Katratzi's location from alternate Stark. Soon after, he is able to guide Moya to a border station on the edge of Scarran space where the ship carrying Aeryn has stopped for quarantine. After a typically convoluted and hastily-improvised plan, Aeryn is rescued - only for Scorpius to be captured while covering Crichton's escape and taken all the way to Katratzi. While the crew is initially willing to leave him behind, Harvey automatically reactivates and insists that Crichton return for Scorpius: he claims that a new feature of his program allows for him to share data with Scorpius over great distances, and that he's already revealed everything Crichton knew about wormholes to Scorpius - and that the Scarrans might be able to extract that knowledge from him. Managing to bluff their way into Katratzi with the aid of a homemade nuclear bomb strapped to Crichton's hip, the crew go about attempting to rescue Scorpius while Crichton distracts Emperor Staleek with grand offers of wormhole technology in exchange for "all the tea in China and anything else you can think to pay me." Upon retrieving him, it's quickly discovered that Harvey was actually lying and Scorpius has no wormhole knowledge, though he has been posing as Staleek's secret agent within the Peacekeepers for a number of years. Upon discovering the Crystherium garden deep within Katratzi, Crichton is able to convince Scorpius to forgive the debt of wormhole knowledge in exchange for destroying the garden and permanently hampering further Scarran expansion efforts in the process - managing it quite easily with the aid of his homemade bomb. Unfortunately, the season finale reveals that Crichton has inadvertently revealed the existence of Crystherium plants on Earth to Staleek, having absently compared them to Strelitzia; worse still, the wormhole opened to Earth earlier in the season is well within reach of the Scarran fleet. Scorpius attempts to pressure Crichton to join him for the resources necessary to stop the Scarran invasion of Earth, but Crichton is not in the mood for further negotiations, having both Scorpius and Sikozu forced off Moya and onto Captain Braca's command carrier. In their final scenes of the season, Scorpius is seen enjoying a meal with Sikozu while he assures Braca that Crichton will need his help eventually; soon after the meal is finished, the two lovers proceed to have sex - with a chain wrapped around Sikozu's neck and Braca looking on with interest. The Peacekeeper Wars Many months after the destruction of Katratzi, the Peacekeepers and Scarrans have finally gone to war and Scorpius is reinstated as a Commander. However, as the war slowly turns against the Peacekeepers, Scorpius tracks down Crichton (recently recovering from an attack on Qujaga) in an attempt to persuade him to finally give the Peacekeepers wormhole weapons. Ironically, this leads to Scorpius being branded a traitor, stripped of his command and ordered to be killed on sight. Given this, Scorpius joins Moya's crew again as they attempt a mission to reinstate the Eidolons as a force for peace, all the while, trying to convince John to give in a build a wormhole weapon. Along the way, he is forced to abandon Sikozu after discovering that she is serving as a double agent for the Scarrans - but not before beating her to within an inch of her life for "ruining something unique." After the peace aspect of the plan is critically delayed, Crichton gives in to Scorpius's demands and builds a wormhole weapon, preparing to deploy it while the two fleets gather above Qujaga for the final battle. However, instead of giving it to the Peacekeepers, he fires it ahead of both armadas, creating a massive wormhole: with both armies - and indeed the entire universe - under threat from the growing wormhole, the two sides reluctantly declare peace and John deactivates the weapon. Scorpius is last seen overseeing the signing of the treaty, seemingly pleased at seeing Commandant Grayza and the Scarrans forced into a humiliating peace. Season Five (BOOM Studio Comics) Following the events of The Peacekeeper wars, it is revealed that Scorpius is not at all satisfied with the treaty. He has since wormed his way into into the court of Dominar Bishan of the Hynerian Empire and has been manipulating Bishan into to building up the Hynerian forces for a massive attack on the Scarrans. However, after the false dominar is dethroned by the crew and Rygel is returned to the throne, Scorpius is banished to an ice planet deep within the Uncharted Territories. After escaping from the planet with typical guile and cunning, Scorpius eventually encounters a highly advanced species known as the Kkore, a force intent on taking over the galaxy. He manages to befriend them and works his way into their ranks: eventually, they give him an army and a fleet of ships with which to crush the Scarran Imperium. However, once arriving at the Scarran homeworld, it is revealed that the army is merely a hologram and the ships possess no weapons - all part of a test by the Kkore to see if he can conquer the Imperium on his own. While initially distraught, Scorpius manages to bluff his way to victory, succeeding in terrifying the Scarrans with the appearance of his massive fleet and the legends of the Kkore throughout history. In the end, the Scarrans surrender without a single shot being fired. Initially pleased with this conquest, Scorpius ultimately finds it unsatisfying: as he sees it, the victory is really that of his masters, having been achieved through their legend and not his own intelligence. More to the point, he finds Kkore's lack of interest in their own achievement troubling: though Scorpius always hated the Scarrans, he nonetheless respected them, and the Kkore's casual humbling and dismissal of the entire Imperium leaves him concerned. He is even more disturbed when this disrespect is revealed to be part of the Kkore's motivation - conquest for the sake of conquest. Unwilling to spend his life as an underling of the Kkore and increasingly dissatisfied with the notion of a galaxy under their control, he begins subtly plotting against his new benefactors: though loathe to continue his role as a minion, he remains within their ranks as a double-agent, intending to take them down from within. Category:Synopsis